Right Judgment Before a Dirty Heart Part One : Sin

Secrets of A  Man's  Heart Postscript

Right Judgment Before a Dirty Heart Part One : Sin

Key Points:

1.    The main problem of man is sin.

2.    To Sin means to disobey God.

3.    Because of sin, men were eternally separated from God and the ones perfect creations are now being perverted with shame, selfishness, hardships and poverty.

4.    Satan’s tactics is to instill doubt to the Word of God and the Love and Righteousness of God.

5.    The root cause of sin is ignorance to the Truth.

When I was younger, I am  unbelievably a  very clean freak person  when it comes to hygiene.  I remember taking a  bath  every night and right after washing myself,  whenever I got even  a what -I -thought a  single dust on my feet because I  step onto the cold stone floor of our home,  I will  hurried again to  the bathroom and wash my feet.  I  did  that  a  couple of  times not  until my  mama notices me and told me off to not  abuse  myself.  During those times,  if  you will only care to look at my feet,  it  is  as  if  you  are looking on the roots of a  tree  because almost all  my bloodstreams are showing off as they  are  already  in  what  we  call  in  Filipino term "pasmado" or  swelled. Yes I am  a  clean freak  person and I  don't want to get dirty.  Everything that I  considered unbelievably dirty,  I  tend  to  throw  away.

Flashing forward one morning,  as I am taking a  bath and readying myself to go to work,  I drop off  my  toothbrush on  the  bathroom floor together with other toiletries accidentally,   and  like before,  the clean-freaking attitude is  about to take it's toll,  but  unlike  before,  my initial   response is  to  pick up my toothbrush,  wash  it  and  it  is  now already ready for use  again.  However,  at  the  back  of  my  mind,  I thought that  this  shouldn't have  been  my attitude if  this  happened back  then  because most likely the  brush  will head  its  way  on  the  bin without a  second thought from a  child  on her  whims . That is  when  I realized that my  bratty,  Prima Donna years was  already decades away . My  present  self  is  someone whom whenever I  gets tired tend to sleep without even  washing my face,  let  alone my feet. Sometimes, I even  forgot to brush my teeth but still able to sleep soundly.  There are even times that I slept with my working clothes on till the  next  morning.  That  is  way far  from the girl who is  crazy clean  addict. Whenever I  remember those  unreasonable years, I can't even recognized that that  was  used to  be  me.  Getting  back to the toothbrush,  it would be  unreasonable to  just throw it away like  a  disposable toilet  paper.  Besides,  the washroom was just  been  recently cleansed  that same  day  by  the  on-call  Housecleaner. Economically wise,  this  is  also  a  money saving  moment so  it  is  just fine.  Looking back however, this  contradicts my  old  school principle : Everything that is unbelievably dirty I tend to throw away.

Surprisingly,  an interesting idea flashes  on  my  mind all  of  a  sudden. Sin is also  a  very  dirty thing.  In  fact  it is  the most  detestable and  most abominable thing  ever and ever  will  be  in  men's history.  It was  before,  it  is  still now,  and  will always be  in  future  time. Surely, my  younger self  is  too far  from  the  understanding of  what  sin  is,  but  it  surely  understand  the  principle : what  is  consider as  unbelievably dirty must  be  thrown  away.  As  I grew  up,  that  idea  became  so  vague,  and  lessened  its degree and  weight. Let's take the reusing of toothbrush for example.  Through time,  I learned the principle of segregation - separating reusable from disposable. In parallel to  my  spirituality,  I learned segregation as well - dispose the obvious sin,  but  hide in the shadow and redo what seems to be casual and common. What of that?  Let's take my  character for example.  Far from what people knew,  I am really a person of very bad temper.  When  I am  happy  and  on  fire,  I seem nice  and compose,  but unfortunately most of my downside moments,  I always turn all my wrath  to people  that  I  am closest the  most - my mama  and  my  sisters.  My  attitude is  actually my silent demon.  I feel guilty afterwards but  I still  find  every reason to  get  angry especially to  my  youngest sister,  though  she  didn't do  anything wrong or  do  things  that  falls  under category of stupidity. Did I  do  that  on  purpose?  No!  Certainly not.  However,  I just couldn't help  myself. It  is  as if  I  sugar coated  all  my  wrongs with sorry  or  feeling guilty,  but  do it  somehow  a numerous  number  of  times again.  That  is  what  I am  referred to  as  getting dirty-cleansing-and getting dirty again habits.  Attitude is one  thing,  but how  about  my  addiction  of  television  novellas,  my  obsession of  beauty  and  weight,  obsession of chasing over  dreams and  competing  against  people I  used  to  know, my overflowing frustrations about  my  crushed  plans  and  my  failures.  Those  things and  many  more  are  keeps  on  towering  one  over the  other  inside  my  head everyday . 

That  is  also  an another  toxic do  over. But  as  I  stumble to the truth of the Word of God,  there is no such thing as segregation in the Bible. Sin  is  something  that  we  must  deal  with  and  get over  with.  It  is  a  one  time  thing while  we  are  still  ignorant,  but  as  we  learned  to  take  a  bath and  clean  ourselves,  it is already  a MUST NOT.  Sin therefore is  disposable. (Hebrews 12:1)

You  might dare to ask me also that  in  physical,  not  because  we  take  a  shower,  it  doesn't mean that we will  never  get dirty again.  What is  true  in  the  natural,  is  also  true  in  spiritual.  Well that is  certainly correct.  But  have  we  ask  ourselves,  why  do  we  get  dirty.  Two  reasons- intentional  and  unintentional.  Intentional  is  when  after  we  learned  that  the  muddy  soil  will  spoil  our clothes  and  get  ourselves dirty you still  choose to  lie  down  and  roll  over  because  you  want  to  play  with  it.  Then after  that you  take  a bath,  but because  you  love  the  ground,  you  play  with  it  again.  Because it  is  a  common  thing.  A child  playing  on the play ground  will not  be  told  off  by  adult.  Let  alone  an adult  person  playing  chase . But  let  me  tell  you,  sin  is  not  a  play thing  that  we  mingle  at  or mingle  with  anytime  we  want.  Not  because  playing  in  the  mud  makes  us  happy  , it doesn't mean  that it  won't  leave  a  stain  on or  worn  our  clothes  off. It is  just  not  an  obvious  thing  because it  is  sugar coated  with  the  world's definition  of  living.

Unintentional is  when  accidentally you step onto  a dog's shit.  It  is  yucky  and you  might wash  your feet  that  very  moment  because  you  cannot  stand  it.  Learning  that there  is  an animal  feces  on  that  side  of  the  road,  you  will  turn  another way,  because  you  cannot  stand  stumbling  on  it  again.  It is  obvious  dirty.  Same  thing  with  murder,  rape,  theft,  abduction,  money  laundering,  high jacking,  holduping.  These  are  common  crimes  of  the  society  today and  it  is  an  obvious  sins.  We  don't  want  it  nor dare  to  commit it,  especially as  people  who  profess  to  know  God  and  are Christians.  These  common  things  are  also  the  ones  (but  not  limited to) that  we usually confess on our sinner's prayer. 

But was that all that sin there is?

One  thing is  sure.  I believe  that we really  have  no  idea  about the  true gravity of  sin  and  how  it  really  affects our  lives.

(M.K.P)

What is sin?

For most people, sin would probably mean murder, adultery, lying, greed or immorality. Nevertheless, in the simplest sense, what was its real meaning?

The truthful and simplest definition of sin is disobedience to God. So, anything that is not abiding in God’s commands, though grave or not, is already sin. (1 John 3:4)

Sinning is not just about killing or stealing or some other heinous crime, it also includes gossiping, disrespecting parents, lustful thinking and hatred. Meaning, sin is not just about you directly hitting a person, but you sinning in your hearts and thoughts.

Yes, hearts and thoughts. Jesus said in Mark 7:20-23, “what comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Also in Matthew 5: 28, he taught his disciples that “everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

It only proves that a person is already sinning even if he just thought of it. For example, you really didn’t had committed adultery, but the fact that you fantasize on someone is already adultery itself. It goes the same way with imagining, or reading, or watching pornographic materials. That’s why he told us in Matthew 5: 29 that “if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell”.

The Lord sees whatever we are thinking or doing even in our most secret place. He knows what we had in our hearts. You will read in Hebrews 4: 12 that “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Even the prophet Jeremiah in chapter 17: 10 wrote what the Lord told him concerning how He judges a person---- “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

What sin does?

Before we fully understand the grave effect that sin brought to our lives, let us understand first the quality of the life that we are supposedly enjoying before sin came and destroys it all, but not completely though.

In Genesis 1:26-27 it states, And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over the creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Then on verse 31 of the same chapter, And God saw everything that he has made, and behold, it was very good.

Let us take a good look of the underlined phrases. (1) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. (2) Let them have dominion over. (3) God created man in His own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (4) It was very good.

(1)    We were created in the image and likeness of God.

                              Meaning, our original identity centers on who God is. We are the perfect reflection or representation of who He is.

(2)    We are design to rule over.

                              Because we are the reflection of God, we were designed to manage the ministry of His creation on His behalf and reflect the Lord’s glory all through out

(3)    God created male and female, the perfect partnership of each other.

            Meaning, this is the gift of sensuality and relationship between a man and woman, whom being created with the same image of the Creator so the relationship is still not about us but it is still portraying the image of God and the center of the relationship is still Him. The beauty of this gift is that we know that God knows our every needs and He already provides for it. It is not only limited on the necessities but also He gave Adam a companion who is a perfect  and a suitable helper for himself to execute God’s purpose to man.

(4)    We were very good.

God did not only stated good. What He said was very good. Meaning, as we possessed the very image of the Lord, we are already perfect.

These gifts of perfection, however, was being marred because of sin. Satan’s tactics was to remove us from our foundation- God’s Word and God’s love and righteousness, leading us to doubt the faithfulness and very character of God. (Genesis 3-1 and 5). The seed of doubt that the serpent planted on the heart of the woman aroused her desire to things that seems good for her, influencing her husband to commit sin also (Genesis 3:6).

Now that sin came, the once perfect creation was being perverted with shame, selfishness, hardships and poverty (Genesis 3:8-19).

What does sin do in our lives?

                After the fall, man was being drove outside the Garden of Eden. Outside the Garden is death. When the Bible mentions about death, that means eternal separation from the presence of God. This is exactly the reason why King David, after committing murder and adultery, uttered in Psalms 51: 10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.…

Adam and Eve did not die, at least on the physical, as a result of their sin, but what they lost is something that is much more precious – that is the image of the Creator and the very Spirit of Life of God in them. The collateral damage is also much more than we could ever bear and imagine. As a result of sin, we surrender the ruler ship of this world to Satan, we lost the true meaning and value of love and submission, and most of all, we lost our perfection and purpose including all the abundance of life that is part of that package.

                When a person sins, his sin separates himself away from God. It wasn’t God who wanted us to be separated, but our sin has “hidden” His face from us, that’s why He cannot work in our lives.

                Isaiah 59:1-2 “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,  your sins have hidden his face from you  so that he does not hear.”

                 And since everyone - nobody is exempted (Romans 3:23) - sinned against God, we are all away from His presence. That’s the very reason why we sometimes don’t feel God’s presence on tough times, because away from his presence also means away from his favor, protection, healing, deliverance, and blessings.

                All sufferings, and poverty is a result of ignorance of the fact that we are away from God’s presence due to the sins we commit, deliberately and not deliberately. The Lord does not want anyone to suffer due to the penalty of sin! Actually, Paul said in Acts 17: 29-31 exactly what the Lord wants, that everyone should no longer be ignorant of the truth, as we were before, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and repent from all our sins.

                Many may ask, “Isn’t it death the wage of sin (Romans 6: 23)? How is suffering and poverty related to sin then?”   Remember what God said to Adam and Eve when they sinned against God? God said in Genesis 3: 16-19 that Eve will begin to experience the pain of childbirth and Adam will begin to till the ground, and by the sweat of his brow that they will eat their food. It means that they will no longer live in abundance the way they did in the Garden but in hard work.

Adam and Eve’s sin drove them away from God’s presence, because when they began to know sin, they must no longer stay in the Garden of Eden, eat the fruit of the tree of Life and have eternal life. That’s why the Lord sent them out. So, it only proves that ‘death’ here not only means eternal punishment in the fire of hell or spiritual death, but also the absence of God’s favor.

Genesis 3: 16-19 

16 To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;

    with painful labor you will give birth to children.

Your desire will be for your husband,

    and he will rule over you.”

17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;

    through painful toil you will eat food from it

    all the days of your life.

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

    and you will eat the plants of the field.

19 By the sweat of your brow

    you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

    since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

    and to dust you will return.”

                Some people thinks that life is unfair because there are people who suffers a lot more than others. Some people gets to be abused, be unloved, be ill, be impaired, be slain, or be hungry. And other people even think that it was God who is unfair. No, God is just and his concern and love for everyone is the same. He actually put a vacuum in each of our hearts so that we will equally have the desire to search for that one missing piece in our lives----- God’s presence (Acts 17: 26-18) We shouldn’t think that God wants us to suffer, he wants us to be saved from all our sins and sufferings!

      What is our main problem then?

Well obviously, our main problem is sin. No one is exempted on this (Romans 3:23). Romans 7 verses 18-24 in fact declares:

For I know that in me (that is in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

For the good thing that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Let us examine the underlined words here.

1.       For I know that in me (that is in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good thing that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

 There is no good in this flesh. Why? When the first Adam fall, men from generation-to-generation where also conceived to sin. (Romans 5:16-19). Adam’s disobedience  made every next generation after him sinners that is destined to suffer judgment, condemnation and death.

2.       For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Our inward man, before the fall, is filled with the Spirit of God. Through the Spirit, the Lord bring us joy and peace in believing in Him (Romans 15:13). Our supposedly Spirit-filled life is designed to reflect God’s image and perfection and is destined for good works (Ephesians 2:10), the exact reflection of God’s glory and His righteousness. After the fall, our once Spirit-filled life is now a captive of sin and death. John 8;32 says, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

Now, remember that we are the bearers of the image of God and that God’s purpose to man is to reflect His glory in our lives. After sin came, the image and the Spirit of God are the things that we lost, leaving us an unfilled God-shaped vacuum inside our hearts, waiting to be filled. This is exactly why we are  still longing for peace, joy, love and doing good things in this life. That God-shaped vacuum is searching for our lost purpose. However, because of sin, it is impossible for us to find that purpose because  the sin which is in our flesh and the life which is in the Spirit of God is in enmity with each other.

Galatians 5:16-23 New International Version (NIV)

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[a] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Without the Spirit of God, it is impossible for us to please God.   

What is the root of the problem?

Now that we know that our main problem is sin, let us find out the root cause of this sin in our lives.

Remember the words mentioned earlier? Satan’s tactics was to remove us from our foundation- God’s Word and God’s love and righteousness, leading us to doubt the faithfulness and very character of God. (Genesis 3-1 and 5).

The first word of the serpent to Eve is in fact: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). This is in order to mislead the woman and doubt the very Word of God.

The second word of Satan is this: “You will not certainly die for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:4-5).” This very statement made God a selfish God and a big fat liar for His gift of abundance is just a mediocracy in order to hide the intention of depriving us of the greatest gift of all – to be like God. This very statement also nullifies the account that God is a loving and righteous God.

Well, we already know what happened next, the woman believe and eat the forbidden fruit, leading the man to disobedience and sin. Every men in history from then after also became a victim, but the sad story is we cannot identify the root (even it is just close to us from the very beginning), thus the problem is still being left unsolved.

But does it really remain unsolved, or we can’t just figure out the solution because of our ignorance of the truth?

In the book of Prophet Isaiah, the Lord declares Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding. (Isaiah 5:12)

To be exiled mean you are being held into captivity. To whom we are being captive of? In those times, because Israel, the chosen people of God, keeps on ignoring the law of the Lord, they were being thrown into exiled in Babylon. In our times today, when we say that we are captive, it means that we are a slave of sin. Whoever commits sin is a servant of sin (John 8:32).

The Bible also declares that the wages of this sin is death (Romans 6:23), to which we now already know as eternal separation to the Creator.

Because of this ignorance, therefore, hell hath enlarge herself, and opened her mouth without measure (Isaiah 5:14) because multitudes will descend into it.

~

To Follow Part Two: The Way of Man and God's Solution. . . .